Tonight's Movie: It's a Wise Child (1931) - A Warner Archive Blu-ray Review

Last year I attended two days of the Cinecon Classic Film Festival, but I was disappointed I was unable to catch IT'S A WISE CHILD (1931), a rarely seen pre-Code comedy starring Marion Davies.

Very happily IT'S A WISE CHILD has just been released on Blu-ray by the Warner Archive Collection.

Like LETTY LYNTON (1932), which is due out in the immediate future, the underlying play by Laurence E. Johnson has fallen into the public domain, clearing the path for release.

Davies plays Joyce Stanton, a free spirit who has managed to become engaged to an elderly banker (Robert McWade) while also dating one of his clerks (Lester Vail).

Joyce exasperates her family's loyal attorney and trustee Steve (Stanley Blackmer), who has secretly loved her for many years and continues to bail her out of various scrapes.

Joyce ending up in jail after the police raid a roadhouse is bad enough, but when she's spotted visiting a maternity nurse soon thereafter, the town gossips go crazy, starting with the banker's sister (Emily Fitzroy).

The thought is that Joyce "needs to get married" immediately...but who's the "lucky" man?

Meanwhile, Joyce is actually covering up for her brother Bill (Ben Alexander), whose brief secret marriage to housemaid Annie (Marie Prevost) has led Annie to expect a future blessing. But Annie and Bill are no longer in love, and Annie's old flame, ice man Cool Kelly (James Gleason), is mooning after Annie...

Needless to say, this is a very "pre-Code" plot; the characters dance around using specific terms like "pregnant," but the scandalous goings-on are made quite clear.

There is a *lot* of plot packed into this 83-minute film, which occasionally betrays its stagebound origins, with characters entering and exiting the house "stage"; that said, the film keeps things moving at a sprightly pace, though it's slightly overstuffed with characters. Joyce's sister and brother-in-law (Hilda Vaughn and Johnny Arthur) are fairly extraneous to the proceedings and could easily have been excised.

On the other hand, what's not to love about Polly Moran's long-suffering housemaid Bertha, who constantly shuffles back and forth to both the front and back doors to admit a variety of characters. She's very funny, and she amused me more as the film went along.

As for Davies, I've come to realize over time that she's an underrated comic gem. Yes, Joyce can be a thoughtless pill, but rather in the way of some of Deanna Durbin's characters, you forgive her simply because she's Marion Davies! A scene where she accompanies Steve's rundown of her bad behavior with melodramatic piano chords was especially funny.

I associate Sidney Blackmer with older characters, such as Tracy Lord's father in HIGH SOCIETY (1956), so I enjoyed seeing him in this as a relatively young -- mid 30s -- romantic lead. His constant care for Joyce was endearing, and I loved his happy ending. (I trust this isn't a spoiler; after all, this is a romantic comedy!)

Speaking of happy endings, there's also an adorable proposal scene between Gleason and Prevost.

If you blink you might miss it, but Clara Blandick's family matriarch is addressed as "Auntie Em," which was a jolt given that's the role she would become known for just a few years later, in THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939).

IT'S A WISE CHILD was directed by Robert Z. Leonard and filmed by Oliver T. Marsh.

The Blu-ray print is from a 1080p HD master from a new 4K scan of the "best preservation elements." It's slightly soft, as one would expect from a film of this vintage, but it looks very good and is free of skips, crackles, or lines marring the picture. The Warner Archive can always be counted on to present films in the best possible light.

I had to turn my TV volume up rather significantly past the spot where I usually set it for Warner Archive Blu-rays, but other than that the sound was fine, with clear dialogue. Optional English captions are included.

Disc extras consist of two shorts with Polly Moran: The 16-minute CRAZY HOUSE (1930), in two-strip Technicolor, and THE ROUNDER (1930), a 20-minute short costarring Jack Benny. Also included are the cartoons BOSKO'S FOX HUNT (1931) and BOSKO'S SODA FOUNTAIN (1931).

IT'S A WISE CHILD had me chuckling as I watched this new Blu-ray, and I hope I have the chance to watch it with an appreciative audience at a future film festival.

Classic film fans, especially those who love pre-Codes and/or Marion Davies, will want to check out this disc; what a treat to have this movie readily available in a nice print at long last!

Thanks to the Warner Archive for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray. Warner Archive Blu-rays may be ordered from Movie Zyng, Amazon, and other online retailers.

Post

Tonight's Movie: Deadman's Curve (1978) (and Concert in the Rocks)

I'm back from a wonderful few days traveling up and down Highway 395.

I spent last weekend in Lone Pine, where I attended the Concert in the Rocks for the first time. This annual event in the Alabama Hills benefits Lone Pine's Museum of Western Film History.

This year's concert featured Dean Torrence, formerly of Jan and Dean, backed by the Surf City AllStars. They sang a lively concert of "beach" music made popular by Jan and Dean, as well as the Beach Boys.

Dean is now 86, but I never would have guessed it from his energetic 90-minute performance had I not been aware of how many decades had passed since the start of his music career!

More on the concert further down in this post, but first, a look at the TV-movie DEADMAN'S CURVE (1978), which I'd never seen before.

The film was shown twice on June 13th in the museum theater; I attended the 10:00 a.m. showing. The print wasn't particularly good but was chosen because better prints are incomplete, rather than the film's 96 minutes. I quickly adjusted to the slightly fuzzy way it looked, and the sound quality was solid.

Richard Hatch, who starred in BATTLESTAR: GALACTICA later that same year, stars as Jan, who is smart and talented but not a very nice person. He's mean to his friends and unfaithful to his girlfriend Susie (Denise DuBarry, BLACK SHEEP SQUADRON).

Jan's friend and singing partner Dean, played by Bruce Davison, is a mellower type and puts up with Jan's behavior; together they hit the music big time. Then one fateful day in 1966 Jan has a near-fatal car wreck, all the more eerie given the duo's hit song "Deadman's Curve."

Jan was in a coma for weeks and worked toward recovery for years. He was never again quite the same, but given how badly he was injured, the functionality he did regain seems miraculous.

The movie, directed by Richard Compton, costarred Pamela Bellwood (DYNASTY), Denise Floy Dean, Anne-Marie Martin, and Priscilla Cory.

I found it engrossing, and while some of the movie was fictionalized -- Jan's girlfriend Susie didn't exist but was a composite of women in his life -- it was also educational.

I especially loved seeing '70s Los Angeles in the film; I found a webpage which has photos of a number of the locations. A small theater seen in the movie still exists right around the corner from the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood!

One of the sequences features Dean doing some dangerous skateboarding maneuvers. The shots of Dean skateboarding from the back were actually of Davison's stunt double, Diamond Farnsworth. Farnsworth -- son of stuntman-actor Richard Farnsworth -- is himself a legendary stuntman who was a talented skateboarder. I've been fortunate to see him numerous times at past Lone Pine Film Festivals.

What made this screening extra-special was that both Davison and Farnsworth were there to discuss the film after it concluded, including taking some audience questions. Davison said when he worked with Richard Farnsworth on ULZANA'S RAID (1972) the senior Farnsworth told him that his son Diamond would be a perfect double for Davison, and with DEADMAN'S CURVE it finally came to pass.

Davison shared that Dean Torrence was on the DEADMAN'S CURVE set daily, making sure the film and characters were as authentic as possible, and indeed, Davison said that Torrence rewrote much of Dalene Young's screenplay on the fly; he would cross out dialogue he wanted removed and rewrite it on the back of the page.

The screenplay was inspired by a well-known Rolling Stone article written by Paul Morantz. An interesting tidbit heard at the screening is that Morantz authored a very good screenplay on Audie Murphy and PTSD, which has yet to be produced; Morantz died in 2022.

Richard Hatch sadly died of cancer in 2017. Davison said the last time he'd seen Hatch was at a reunion for the TV series THE WALTONS; he and Hatch had each appeared in an episode.

I'll insert here that, as it happens, I met Davison in Lone Pine in 2017, as I recounted here; and when I was a teenager I saw him on stage in a production of AS YOU LIKE IT directed by Tony Richardson.

The movie provided some great background history for the evening's concert, which took place in a section of the Alabama Hills known for decades as Lone Ranger Canyon.

My husband, who volunteers for the fall film festival, was out in hot weather on Saturday morning helping set up these tables!

When the band started singing "Let's go surfin' now..." red, white, and blue beach balls started flying!  It was tremendous fun.

The evening provided some remarkable visuals to go with the great music:

It was especially memorable when Bruce Davison and Diamond Farnsworth came on stage to join in the last couple songs, including "Barbara Ann."  Diamond even played guitar! He's in the striped shirt to the right of Dean Torrence, with Davison on his other side at the microphone.

Another great time in Lone Pine!

DEADMAN'S CURVE can be seen digitally via Amazon. 

Post

Around the Blogosphere This Week...

...will not appear this weekend.

I am in Lone Pine, California, for the annual Concert in the Rocks benefiting the Museum of Western Film History.

Dean Torrence will be performing in the Alabama Hills along with the Surf City AllStars.

Actor Bruce Davison, who starred in the TV-movie DEADMAN'S CURVE (1978), will also appear. I had the pleasure of meeting Davison in Lone Pine back in 2017.

Around the Blogosphere This Week will return on June 20th.

For recent links of interest to classic film fans, please visit my June 6th column.

Update: For more on this past weekend's events, please visit my post on the movie and concert.

Post

Tonight's Movie: Three Smart Girls (1936) - A Universal Blu-ray Review

There are few things which make me happier than Deanna Durbin movies, so I'm thrilled that her first full-length feature film, THREE SMART GIRLS (1936), was just released on Blu-ray.

Given how much I love Durbin, I've been upgrading her films from DVD to Blu-ray as they're released, and I'm thrilled that this important movie in her filmography finally joins many of her other titles on Blu-ray.

As a matter of fact, my earliest Durbin viewing, including this film, was on VHS; I first saw THREE SMART GIRLS on video in 2008.

In the intervening years I've also seen it on DVD, and in 2018 I was fortunate to see THREE SMART GIRLS in 35mm at the TCM Classic Film Festival.

Bob Koster, son of the film's director, Henry Koster, told some interesting stories at that screening, including that Deanna lived with the Koster family during filming so that his father could coach her in the evenings.

He also said that his father "guilt tripped" Deanna about the need for the film to be a success so he wouldn't have to return to Germany. (Koster had escaped Germany on a lunch break around 1932 after hitting a German soldier.) Bob was worried Deanna might have harbored an understandable resentment about that pressure, though they did work well together on several more films.

THREE SMART GIRLS is essentially a romantic comedy with music. The title sisters are Penny (Durbin), Joan (Nan Grey), and Kay (Barbara Read), who live in Switzerland with their mother (Nella Walker).

When the girls learn their father (Charles Winninger) is about to marry a woman (Binnie Barnes) they strongly suspect is a gold digger, they set sail for New York and barge into the life of a man who hasn't seen them for a decade.

As some reviewers have aptly pointed out over the years, the "long lost daughters saving dad from a gold digger" story and screenplay by Adele Comandini rather foreshadows THE PARENT TRAP (1961) of decades later. Of course, both films also have in common that they starred two of our greatest child performers in Deanna Durbin and Hayley Mills.

Whether singing, handling comedic scenes, or shedding tears, Deanna was a charmer, and it's easy to see why she became a huge star for Universal. Indeed, as I noted back in my 2008 review, her impact was such that my late mother was one of countless little girls born in the late '30s who were named Deanna.

I especially love the subplot in which Michael, a wealthy young British lord (adorable Ray Milland), falls head over heels for Kay; especially given all the drama with the girls' parents, that sweet love story provides needed romance and levity. Michael instantly begins planning marriage, while Kay is confused due to a situation with mistaken identities...

To a lesser extent, romance is also provided as Joan falls for her father's financial manager Bill (John "Dusty" King), who is as anxious to prevent her father's marriage as the girls are.

The film is over and done in a brisk 84 minutes filled with a wonderful cast, amusing moments, lovely music, and gorgeous, gleaming sets. It's a delight start to finish, leaving me with a happy tear in my eye at the fadeout.

The supporting cast includes Ernest Cossart and Charles Coleman as butlers, Lucile Watson as the girls' housekeeper/nanny, and Alice Brady as Barnes' financially greedy mother.

Also in the cast are Mischa Auer, Hobart Cavanaugh, John Hamilton, Joyce Compton, and Franklin Pangborn.

The movie was filmed in black and white by Joseph Valentine. Universal's crisp Blu-ray print shows off his cinematography nicely. Sound quality is also excellent.

Unlike many of Universal's recent classic film Blu-ray releases, THREE SMART GIRLS comes with a trailer and a pair of nine-minute featurettes, 100 YEARS OF UNIVERSAL: THE CARL LAEMMLE ERA and 100 YEARS OF UNIVERSAL: THE LEW WASSERMAN ERA.

Optional English captions are also provided.

Most highly recommended.

Thanks to Allied Vaughn and Universal for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray. It may be purchased from Movie Zyng and other online retailers.

Post

Tonight's Movie: Maigret Sets a Trap (1958) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

Last month I reviewed Jean Gabin in the title role of the very enjoyable police detective movie MAIGRET SEES RED (1963).

MAIGRET SEES RED recently had a single-title Blu-ray release by Kino Lorber; now that film has also been released as part of Kino Lorber's three-film Inspector Maigret Collection, along with MAIGRET SETS A TRAP (1958) and MAIGRET AND THE ST. FIACRE CASE (1959).

MAIGRET SETS A TRAP, also known as INSPECTOR MAIGRET or, in France, MAIGRET TEND UN PIEGE, was the first of Gabin's three Maigret films.

This time around Police Inspector Maigret is working to solve the case of a serial killer, as women are stabbed in the streets of Paris at night, their clothes left in shreds.

Maigret's focus gradually turns to a butcher shop and its connections to architect/decorator Marcel Maurin (Jean Desailly), Marcel's unfaithful wife Yvonne (Annie Girardot), and his mother (Lucienne Bogaert).

As was the case with MAIGRET SEES RED, I found MAIGRET SETS A TRAP to be a thoroughly enjoyable procedural. The movie runs just under two hours but it flies by. Time spent with Inspector Maigret and this cast is time well spent.

As I shared in my previous review of MAIGRET SEES RED, Gabin commands attention. Maigret calmly smokes his pipe and chats with suspects and witnesses, appearing not to suspect anyone in particular but gradually revealing he's quite cagey; bit by bit, his targets slowly reveal themselves as they talk with the seemingly unassuming detective.

Gabin's Maigret is almost COLUMBO-like in the way that we realize Maigret's apologetic, casual, and friendly interviews aren't casual in the least; he has keyed in on certain things and his investigation is headed somewhere ahead of the viewer realizing it. Yet once we're in on things, everything Maigret has noticed makes sense.

I especially enjoyed Lino Ventura in the cast as one of Maigret's colleagues, Inspector Torrence; it's a relatively small role yet adds color. When Torrence turns up at the end of a prolonged sequence involving Maurin filling out a form, I laughed out loud. (Incidentally, Torrence is played by Marcel Bozzufi in MAIGRET SEES RED.)

Like Gabin, Ventura is an actor I've come to really appreciate over the past year (for instance, in THE BEAST IS LOOSE), and I've been eagerly collecting both actors' films -- a good number of which are available from Kino Lorber.

I also appreciated brief looks into Maigret's personal life via scenes with his wife Louise (Jeanne Boitel); indeed, a comment Louise makes early on gives Maigret a significant flash of insight into the killer. This is the only one of the three films in which Boitel appears.

The 4K Studiocanal restoration looks and sounds great. Shadowy Paris by night has probably never looked better.

This set is presented as a special edition with a cardboard slipcase. Blu-ray disc extras consist of a commentary track by Howard S. Berger and Nathaniel Thompson; the trailer; and trailers for the other two Maigret films in the set.

I'll be reviewing MAIGRET AND THE ST. FIACRE CASE in the near future; that said, based on the first two films I've seen I highly recommend Kino Lorber's Inspector Maigret Collection.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray collection.

Post

Around the Blogosphere This Week

Miscellaneous bits of news and fun stuff from around the Internet...

...Kino Lorber has announced that TILL WE MEET AGAIN (1944) will be released August 25th. The Blu-ray disc, from a 4K scan of the 35mm nitrate original negative and 35mm composite fine grain, is a restoration by Universal and the Film Foundation. It will include a commentary track by Imogen Sara Smith.

...Leonard Maltin reviews the new Blu-rays of NIGHT WORLD (1932) and THE BIG COMBO (1955).

...Chris Yogerst has a new article for MovieWeb on Netflix announcing they're not interested in making theatrical films. Quite a change in tune from when Netflix was hoping to purchase Warner Bros.! It's also curious as Netflix owns the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.

...Glenn Erickson reviewed the Warner Archive Collection Blu-ray FOLLOW ME QUIETLY (1949) a few days ago...Glenn also reviewed the new biography of director Richard Fleischer by Jason A. Ney.

...There's an interesting-looking novel coming this fall, ROUGH CUTS, about movie censorship in the silent film era. It was written by Glenn R. Miller and will be published by Koehler Books.

...Toby Roan has reviewed the Johnny Mack Brown Western UNDER ARIZONA SKIES (1946) which was just released by the Warner Archive Collection in the third volume of the Monogram Matinee series.

...John McElwee of Greenbriar Picture Shows looks back at the 50th anniversary of Warner Bros., including the book HERE'S LOOKING AT YOU, KID by James R. Silke, which has been on my bookshelf since it first came out when I was in my early teens.

...Over at Speakeasy, Kristina has reviewed NIAGARA (1953), starring Jean Peters, Marilyn Monroe, and Joseph Cotten. This is one I enjoyed several years back and would like to revisit.

...Coming to Blu-ray and DVD in the future from Film Masters: IT'S LOVE AGAIN (1936) starring Jessie Matthews and Robert Young.

...Notable Passings: Character actor James Handy was tragically murdered by his girlfriend's son a few days ago. Handy's roles included playing the bartender in TOP GUN: MAVERICK (2022). He was 81...Singer Peabo Bryson has died at 75. Among his best-known recordings were "A Whole New World" from Disney's ALADDIN (1992) and "Beauty and the Beast" from the 1991 film of the same name...British actor Anthony Head (seen here), known for TV's BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (1997-2003) -- and a long-running series of Nescafe commercials opposite Sharon Maughan -- has died at 72.

...Please note that Around the Blogosphere This Week will not appear on June 13th. I will be attending the annual Concert in the Rocks benefit for the Museum of Western Film History in Lone Pine, California. The column will return on June 20th.

...For additional recent links of interest to classic film fans, please visit my May 30th column.

Post

Tonight's Movie: Pressure (2026)

On this June 6th anniversary of D-Day, it's very appropriate to review the new film PRESSURE (2026).

PRESSURE, which opened a week ago, is what might be called a "procedural," about the days immediately leading up to June 6, 1944.

The focus is particularly on meteorology, including weather forecaster James Stagg (Andrew Scott), and the process of choosing the D-Day invasion date.

In an era where all the data was gathered and charted by hand from a variety of sources, Stagg's job was to forecast for General Eisenhower (Brendan Fraser) whether it was "go or no go" for landing on June 5th. The 5th had been chosen for a variety of reasons, including tides and the moon phase.

Stagg forecast a heavy storm was likely, though not certain, for the 5th and advised not going...and then he forecast an opening in the weather for June 6th. June 6th weather conditions still weren't ideal, but "good enough" for the landing, which otherwise would likely have to be put forward for a number of days.

I found PRESSURE extremely engrossing, to the point I plan to purchase it when it's available so I can revisit it. And I'll mention at the outset that I appreciated it told a fascinating story in just 100 minutes, rather than running over two hours, as so many films do these days.

To be sure, the film took dramatic license in some ways. For instance, Google search tells us that Stagg's baby wasn't born until later in 1944.

I'm also curious about Eisenhower's temperament in this time period, under the strain of making a decision; Fraser depicts the general yelling at a couple points, which surprised me. My limited Internet search turned up conflicting opinions on this. Clearly, I need to do a deep dive and read about D-Day; I wish my favorite World War II historian, Walter Lord, had written one.

In any event, it's certainly not out of the ordinary for some fictionalization to occur in movies, and while Fraser's casting and a couple of his acting choices were a bit unexpected, I have to say I enjoyed the performance.

I'll post a brief personal side note that I saw Fraser in person narrating the Christmas story at Epcot in December 2023, seen here.

Both Fraser and Scott, as the prickly Stagg, do a fine job conveying the enormous pressure they were under to make the best decision possible, with both Allied lives and the fate of the European war at stake.

We know from his opening scene with his wife (Tamsin Topolski) that Stagg is capable of warmth and caring, but once at Allied Headquarters he's all business, barking "Get me the data."

I loved the way PRESSURE zeroes in on a very particular part of the planning of "Operation Overlord"; it's an excellent, intimate counterpoint to the epic THE LONGEST DAY (1962), which shows what happens after Stagg tells Eisenhower "Go."

Fraser and Scott are ably supported by Chris Messina (JULIE & JULIA) as an American meteorologist who clashes with Stagg, Damian Lewis as Bernard Montgomery, and Kerry Condon (F1: THE MOVIE) as Kay Summersby.

Summersby is treated matter-of-factly in the film as a close aide to Eisenhower who has the ability to speak with him on a more personal basis, but nothing further is implied about their relationship, which I appreciated.

PRESSURE was directed by Anthony Maras, with the screenplay written by Maras and David Haig from Haig's play.

The movie was filmed by Jamie Ramsay, and my only major criticism of the film is it follows the current trend of looking very...brown. I look back on the visuals of several new movies I've seen recently, including SHELTER (2026) and CRIME 101 (2026), and just remember dingy browns with some green. The stills used here give a sense of the look. It's a bizarre cinematography trend which I hope fades out quickly.

Parental Advisory: This film is rated PG-13. Opening and closing scenes incorporate wartime violence, and it's tough enough to watch I had to look away. However, anyone mature enough to be interested in what is, in the end, an inspirational story may be able to handle it, including choosing not to watch certain moments.

A trailer for PRESSURE is here.

Recommended.

Tweet

Gold Country Western Locations at Classic Movie Hub

I recently traveled to California's "Gold Country," where many Westerns have been filmed over the past century.

My latest Western RoundUp column at Classic Movie Hub takes a close-up look at movie locations in Jamestown and Columbia.

This included a look at the "most photographed train engine in the world," the No. 3 engine at Railtown 1897 in Jamestown.

Please click over to Classic Movie Hub for my article, which includes many photographs, and thanks for reading!

Previous Classic Movie Hub Western RoundUp Column Links: June 2018; July 2018; August 2018; September 2018; October 2018; November 2018; December 2018; January 2019; February 2019; April 5, 2019; April 30, 2019; May 2019; June 2019; July 2019; August 2019; September 2019; October 2019; November 2019; December 2019; January 2020; February 2020; March 2020; April 2020; May 2020; June 2020; July 2020; August 2020; September 2020; October 2020; November 2020; December 2020; January 2021; February 2021; March 2021; May 2021; June 2021; June 2021 (No. 2); July 2021; August 2021; September 2021; November 2021; December 2021; December 2021 (No. 2); January 2022; February 2022; March 2022; April 2022; May 2022; June 2022; July 2022; August 2022; September 2022; November 2022; November 2022 (No. 2); January 2023 (No. 1); January 2023 (No. 2); March 2023; April 2023; May 2023 (No. 1); May 2023 (No. 2); June 2023; July 2023; September 2023; September 2023 (No. 2); October 2023; November 2023; December 2023; January 2024; February 2024; March 2024; April 2024; May 2024; June 2024; July 2024; August 2024; September 2024; October 2024; November 2024; December 2024; January 2025; February 2025; March 2025; April 2025; May 2025; June 2025; July 2025; August 2025; September 2025; October 2025; November 2025; January 2026 (No. 1); January 2026 (No. 2); February 2026; March 2026; April 2026.

Post